The season finally is up and running- and so are the Irish. After what seemed like a never ending offseason that had more than a few “pundits” proclaiming that the Irish would get upset by Nevada because they were so offensively potent- things happened a little differently than even I could have expected.
I realize that some of you may still be Goombay Smashed, so I’ll cut right to it and give you your hangover…
Blitzkrieg. The soothing presence of Fighting Irish Defensive Coordinator, John Tenuta, was felt in a bigger way in this season opener than last year. While the Irish only managed 2 sacks Saturday- that was two more than what they had against San Diego State a year ago. Besides that, the pressure was relentless all day. Tom “The Ice Princess” Hammond was quick to point out on more than a few occasions, that Notre Dame had at least one unblocked blitzer on almost every play. This unholy assault on the opposing team was the biggest contribution towards the shutout- something that hadn’t been done in almost 7 years.
Some things that bothered me… I know that I should be jumping up and down and pissing out champagne over a blowout, shutout victory- but the cynic in me can still find some things that make me scratch my head.
- Our pass coverage really looked awful. The WR’s for Nevada had at least 5 yards or more of cushion by the time the balls got to them- and they dropped them. Maybe I shouldn’t say awful, but I really expected something more out of these guys. In their defense, ND was playing man-to-man most of the time, and they never seemed to be confused or let a guy get behind them.
- Why can’t Nick Tausch smoke the football on the kickoff? I truly think that once a kicker puts on the Gold Helmet- he loses any ability to kick the ball into the endzone, or within 5 yards. His extra points looked fabulous.
- The massive transition of half the team to wear visors, was a little funny. I guess what bothered me was that I just wish they were the mirrored visors. Why this bothered me is still puzzling to me, but we won 35-0 so… I’m nitpicking here.
Jimmy is pushing for the stiff arm. 15-18 for 315 yards and 4 TD’s is a hell of a way to open up a season and to start your “quiet” Heisman campaign as a junior. There were many time on Saturday where I was watching Jimmy and thought he had some offseason rust still working against him, but his stats trump anything else that I saw. Obviously, Nevada’s pass defense is
the probably going to be the worst that the Irish will see this year. However, Jimmy only threw 2 bad passes and none of the attempts looked to be interceptable at all. He commanded the offense and the team, and he looked like he was having a blast doing it as well. A tougher test is coming up, and I shall reserve judgement until then.
Michael Floyd… I love you. The lore of Michael Floyd grew once again as he caught 4 balls for 189 yards and 3 TD’s. It was an amazing performance. He showed so many facets of his game with only 4 catches. He showed his speed, which is underrated. He showed his ability to go over the middle. He showed how he can go up and get a ball with supernatural body control. As with Jimmy, Floyd has been undersold because of some other really good players in the country like Julio Jones, AJ Green, and Dez Bryant. I’ll take Floyd any day. The one thing that Floyd has to do is come up with that clutch TD or game-winning TD. Not that he needs it to be any better, but to keep the legend growing.
I have to say “My Bad” I have to cut this hangover a little short. I apologize to all of you that were expecting a bit more as I usually do for these. I have had a bad case of piss poor time management these last few days. So my bad- I’ll have more for the Michigan (sucks!) game.
Here’s a little highlight clip to help make up for this mediocre bullshit. Peace:
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